A Comedy of Airs...

It's funny. When worlds collide you never know what to expect or how things or people will react when they're out of their normal environs. I got to experience that first hand when my sisters and my nephews made the six hour trek to visit my gal pal's family. Or as I like to call it: "when city slickers and hillbillies collide"...lol
I was deeply moved that my family was willing to get together and come down to hangout with a bunch of people they didn't really know at all. When everyone met up though, they seemed to hit it off splendidly. And they had a big ol' cookout too and we got to just relax and spend time getting to fellowship and pick on each other as family tends to do. Then on Sunday at church it was another round of people getting to meet my family again and it was weird hearing people tell my family that they like me. But it was neat to hear my gal pal's family tell other people (not knowing I was within hearing range) that they really liked my family. There were a few cultural things that I had to deal with... such as we northerners talk a whole lot faster and the country folks had the deer in the headlights look on a couple of occassions cause they couldn't make heads or tails of what we were saying when we were talking to each other. But we made it through just fine and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. And not one reference to Hee Haw, banjos, or the movie 'Deliverance' the entire weekend...

Moving On But Never Forgetting...

It doesn't seem like two years ago today that a seriously nasty F4 tornado went through this neck of the woods. 100 buildings flattened, a high school destroyed, a fire department and police department heavily damaged. And worst of all, 7 lives lost. Lake Township went through a lot. But they're rebuilding and most of it has been done. The high school is getting ready to open this fall. But today was just a day to pause and reflect and remember. It doesn't seem that long ago. I'm in a pretty okay mood though. Life does go on... A number of members of my family are going to make the 6 hour trip to see my gal pal's family with me. We're going to just hang out for a long weekend and spend time getting to know each other better. My family are true northerners. My gal pal's are true southerners. I don't know if the Hatfields and McCoys have anything on us...lol... My nephew is learning how to play rock guitar. I told him if he was down south, he'd have to learn how to play the banjo. He didn't get the joke but he's only 15 so I didn't expect him to... Hope this finds you all safe and sound and doing alright. We'll talk again soon...